About the author>>
Class: Senior | Major: Business | Hometown: Los Osos, Calif.
A senior member of the Cougars cross country team, Reyes is regarded as perhaps the strongest No. 4 runner in Azusa Pacific cross country history...is a powerful runner who could push for All-America recognition...and is coming off a strong track & field season and will be a key runner in the Cougars quest for a high national finish.

Learn more>> Azusa Pacific University | Becca Reyes | Azusa Pacific Athletics

5 Miles to Prove It | November 21, 2008

The weekend we have all been anxiously waiting for is finally here. This weekend is the reason why we have devoted that past 6 months to intense training. This is the weekend of truth.

We arrived in Kenosha Wisconsin on Wednesday and I don't really know what else to say besides  the fact that it is really cold! We are the typical people from California that get crazy excited over the little snow flurries that were coming down as we were running our workout this morning. Even though the cold weather is a new factor for us, we all loved the course and are all excited to race it.

This weekend will  be an exciting yet emotional weekend for a couple of us because this will be the last collegiate cross country race of our lives. It never ceases to amaze me how fast time flies and I remember like it was yesterday when I couldn't wait until I was old enough to be in college and able to compete. One of our teammates, John Pfeil, made an awesome poster with pictures of all of the places we have the hardest workouts.  At the bottom it said, "38 hill surges, 87 miles threshold, 98 mile repeats, 1,929 miles, and 5 miles to prove it."  For the girls, we only have three.  While I was looking at the poster, it hit me that I will not be going back to many of those places.  All of the hard work we have done over the past couple years culminates in this weekend.  No matter what the outcome of the race is, my team and I have had the most memorable time training all season.  Whether we go home as national champions or not, we are each better people because of what we have accomplished as a team.  We have worked hard, ran fast, but more importantly, we have loved each other.  And after the season is over, this is what the seniors will always look back on and truly cherish.  The relationships I have formed have changed my life and I will never forget it.  I think it is safe to say that that is the case for all of us. 

I wish the best of luck to each and every individual that is competing this weekend. I pray that we never forget who we are really running for and remember to give all glory to God, for it is Him who has given us the ability and talent to be here.

By Becca Reyes | posted by the NAIA | November 21, 200

Reaching Goals | November 13, 2008

What an exciting and historic day this past weekend for both the Azusa Pacific men's and woman's cross country teams. We went into the Golden State Athletic Conference meet with the mindset that we were going to have 5 runners earn All-GSAC honors, meaning that they would have to finish in the top 14 of the race. We exceeded many of our expectations. There were personal records set for almost everyone on the entire team. We managed to put our top 5 finishers in the top 10 which has never been done before. Jacky, Jaime, and Renee all did an amazing job leading the race, while our new freshman Lauren Jimison and I followed closely. The personal records didn't stop there though. Kayla Carstensen, Jenny Landis, Stephanie Godfrey, and Victoria Martinez smashed their times of last year and created their personal records. As a result we are GSAC champions for the second straight year.

When I was 14 years old, I remember watching a television show where they talked about the idea of creating a list of things you would like to do in your lifetime. As soon as the show finished I went straight to creating my list. It's really not that easy to think of 100 things to do, but I did. One of the goals on my list was to run a 5K under 18:05.  Though I was told I'm selling myself short, I thought it sounded good at the time I created my list. This weekend I was able to complete that goal and cross it off my list. My official time was 18:01. Maybe after I finish my current list I'll make a new one and put 17:40.

There was something special about my team that completely warmed my heart the day of the GSAC championships. I found it really comforting that before the race, Lauren, Jenny and I sat and just scanned through some Bible verses that were encouraging.  I was happy that we were able to do that. After the race I remember looking around and seeing my teammates just full of smiles, joy, and excitement. One particular verse came to my head instantly 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight I have finished the race, I have kept the Faith.

We have just under two weeks left until NAIA, and we are excited to see what God has in store for us.

By Becca Reyes | posted by the NAIA | November 13, 2008

Gearing Up for the GSAC Championship | November 5, 2008

I have to say that I would not trade my Azusa Pacific team for any other team out there.  I love everything about my team.

One thing that really means a lot to me is the way my team is extremely encouraging.  When one of us has a bad day, or workout, the rest of the team is right there to talk and help stand us up on our feet.

One of my favorite things to do is just sit back and watch how the team interacts. We are always with each throughout the day and yet whenever we see another person on the team, we literally run up to them, jump on them, and hug them like we haven't seen each other in years.  It just goes to show how loving our team is.

Last week our team went through a phase where we needed some serious recovery time, but I'm fascinated by the way our team managed to pull each other up with constant encouragement, motivation, and determination.

A couple weeks ago I told Aron Rono, the NAIA champion, that I want to be as fast as him. He simply told me to run with him and I'd be fast too. I wish it were that easy.  I tried it, but I didn't last long.  A jog for him was a total sprint for me, but I'll keep trying though.

We are looking forward to a great race this weekend at the GSAC Championship Meet in Fresno at Woodward Park. I have run this course for many years, and I absolutely love it. It's very scenic and is very enjoyable to run, plus there are many good memories at Woodward.  All the great competitive cross country races in California, from high school to junior college to university, are run at Woodward.  We won the GSAC title last year, the fifth time in the past seven years.

Defending the crown won't be easy this time around.  Concordia and Biola are two outstanding teams that have gotten better with each race.  The pressure will be on us to prove our ranking, but this is a wonderful set of teammates, and I'm confident that we will be up to the challenge.

By Becca Reyes | posted by the NAIA | November 5, 2008

A Little Rest for the Weary | October 29, 2008

What a week of recovery this will be for us at Azusa Pacific.

We just returned from a very long, tiring and, to be honest, somewhat disappointing weekend in Michigan where we competed in the Great Lakes Challenge Meet in Grand Rapid. It was very unfortunate for us that this weekend as No. 2-ranked Cedarville University knocked us off the top perch of the NAIA by beating us head-to-head in Michigan.  Our No. 4 runner, freshman Lauren Jimisen, entered the biggest meet of the season having been sick the previous days and we felt the effect of her not being at the top of her training, though she did run a very courageous race given her physical condition. 

One of the great highlights from the meet was that our top runner, All-American Jacky Kipwambok, recorded the first-ever sub-17-minute race in school history, going 16:57 for her personal best time.

I think our team did a fairly good job this weekend considering the temps in Michigan were somewhere around the low 50s to high 40s, and we have been training in weather that seems to stay consistently around 90 degrees. It also started to rain half way through our women's race which added to the chill factor.  Though the overall end result was disappointing, we can look at the experience as good training, particularly in that weather, as for what we will see at the national meet in the few weeks.

We had a very interesting trip home. After different kinds of technical difficulties with the plane, we were delayed four hours and arrived home at 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

We are hoping to have a complete, full recovery and be back on track and ready to go at the Golden State Athletic Conference meet in Fresno in two weeks.

By Becca Reyes | posted by the NAIA | October 29, 2008

Cross Country is a Family Affair | October 22, 2008

This is a week full of many different emotions for us Azusa Pacific, both as a team and for me personally.  We are excited about what lies ahead, and we are determined and focused for the coming weekend as we compete at the Great Lakes Challenge meet in Michigan.  For the first time ever in program history we are the No. 1-ranked team in the NAIA.  It's a thrill and an honor.  It's also humbling and scary.

No sooner do we become the top-ranked team in the nation then we go head-to-head against some of the best competition in the NAIA for the first time this season, including No. 2-ranked Cedarville University, which we will race against in Grand Rapids this weekend.  I have a deeply personal connection with Cedarville.  Out of high school it seemed only natural that I would leave the beautiful central California coast and travel across the country to attend Cedarville in Ohio.  It's a tradition in my family because my brother, Sergio, and three sisters, Melissa, Christina and Jessica, all have or are currently attending Cedarville. My brother was the NAIA 10,000-meter champion in 2002.  My sisters, Christina and Jessica, both ran track and cross country at Cedarville and Christina was an All-American.  My path, however, was a little different, and when it became my turn, I had developed an interest in Azusa Pacific and I had to choose between Azusa Pacific and Cedarville.  It was a difficult decision, and although Cedarville is a great university, I eventually chose Azusa Pacific because I truly felt it was where God was leading me to go.

The irony of this weekend - No. 1 Azusa Pacific vs. No. 2 Cedarville -- is not lost on me or my family.

As for our talented Azusa Pacific team, there is more to it than just competing.   I have personally developed a greater respect for each of my teammates because what most people don't realize is that it's not easy being a student-athlete. Each person has their own personal challenges, frustrations, and stresses that can easily be overwhelming, but the fact that each person can deal with all that and still be so focused, determined, and mentally tough when it comes to cross country, truly inspires me. As a team, we have been working really hard on running as a pack to reduce the gap split within our one through five runners.  Everyone has been working hard in practice and we are all excited and anxious to go to Michigan and compete without losing the mindset that we are out there using the ability God has given us and that we are running to glorify Him.

By Becca Reyes | posted by the NAIA | October 22, 2008

Setting the Pace | October 15, 2008

Now in my second year here, I have come to realize how truly blessed I am to be a part of Azusa Pacific cross country. I have never been part of team with such great dynamics in all areas of life and competition as we have at APU. 

We started the season with a ten-day team trip to Mammoth Lakes in the high Sierra Nevada Mountains along the California/Nevada border for the purpose of establishing a strong base not just in individual training, but also for the team itself. Our team motto of "One team, One Goal" is portrayed in every aspect of what we do on and off course. For example, we are not just teammates here at APU, but we are also friends, roommates, and most importantly a family. We have a "Family Dinner" once a week where we all meet at our team captain's house to make dinner. Personally, I really enjoy this time with my team family because it allows me to get my mind off of all the little crazy things going on, and it helps me to just relax, laugh, and enjoy the time with each other. 

However, it doesn't stop there. We also hang out together on the weekends by going shopping or heading to the beach.  At Azusa Pacific we have chapel three times a week, which is a rather amazing experience when you bring over 4,000 students together to worship God.  Even in chapel we sit together as a team because we truly enjoying being together, first as friends then as teammates.

On one of our hard workout days while training in Mammoth, I remember saying to myself, "wow we truly have an amazing team."  We have some great newcomers this year and the returnees are even stronger than they were last year. There has been tremendous improvement across the board and going into the season we knew we could be strong.  Still, we surprised ourselves with our team's winning performance at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego, the first time any Azusa Pacific team has ever won that meet.  We were equally surprised as well by placing third at the Stanford Invite, perhaps the best collegiate meet on the west coast each year.  All the girls on the team run each workout with every ounce of effort they possibly can.  Although there is always a lot of emphasis on the top five point scores, what often goes unrecognized is the fact that those top runners wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the support, encouragement, and determination that the rest of the team brings. We run our workouts together and push each other every step of the way. I personally get inspired just by watching the way our team works.

We have a challenging six weeks ahead of us, but with our consistent hard work, dedication, and determination, we are looking forward to competing for the national title among the very best of the NAIA.

By Becca Reyes | posted by the NAIA | October 15, 2008